Abstract

In invertebrates, it has been recently reported that secondary sexual characteristics (SSC) reflect the antioxidant defense of their bearers, but it is not known what physiological link maintains the honesty of those signals. Here, we use the damselfly Hetaerina americana to test whether Juvenile Hormone plays such a role. First, we analyzed whether oxidative damage is a real threat in natural damselfly populations by examining the accumulation of oxidized guanines as a function of age in males. Then, we injected paraquat (a pro-oxidant agent) and added the Juvenile Hormone analog Methoprene (JHa) to the experimental group and the JHa vehicle (acetone) to the control group, to determine whether JHa increases the levels of pro-oxidants and antioxidants. We found that DNA oxidation increased with age, and levels of hydrogen peroxide and superoxide dismutase, but not catalase or glutathione, were elevated in the JHa group compared to the control group. We propose that Juvenile Hormone is a mediator of the relationship between SSC and antioxidant capacity and based on the literature, we know that JHa suppresses immune response. We therefore suggest that Juvenile Hormone is a molecular mediator of the general health of males, which is reflected in their SSC.

Log in using your username and password

Log in through your institution

You may be able to gain access using your login credentials for your institution. Contact your library if you do not have a username and password.

If your organization uses OpenAthens, you can log in using your OpenAthens username and password. To check if your institution is supported, please see this list. Contact your library for more details.

Pay Per Article - You may access this article (from the computer you are currently using) for 1 day for US$30.00 .

Regain Access - You can regain access to a recent Pay per Article purchase if your access period has not yet expired.

Similar articles

Other journals from The Company of Biologists

John Endler and team have come up with a new way to test animal colour vision based on methods to determine whether humans are ‘colour blind’, and they demonstrate how this method works with triggerfish.

Trained macaques that can walk on two legs never seemed to run, but Naomichi Ogihara and team show that they run all the time, although their legs are too springy for them to get off the ground, and they can take off like runners when moving at top speed.

Danielle Levesque is an Assistant Professor at the University of Maine, USA, where she studies hibernation and torpor in mammals. She told us how her research has taken her to Madagascar and Borneo, and why she thinks it is important to learn coding.

Read more of our interviews with early-career researchers on our Interviews page.

We are delighted to announce the shortlist of papers nominated by the journal Editors for the 2018 award. Featuring topics as wide-ranging as the development of oxygen transport in snapping turtle embryos, the factors that cause cold flies to fall into a coma and the visual features that influence flying hoverflies, the shortlist celebrates the journal's diversity. Special congratulations go to Colin Brauner's team at the University of British Columbia, winner of this year's Outstanding Paper Prize.